Imbalance between energy intake and expenditure results in excessive weight gain of an individual, followed by dyslipidemia and cardiovascular diseases in young adults. Energy intake is directly co-related with food consumption and when food is consumed in more amount than body requirement, balance of energy utilization is disturbed. A high rate of morbidity and early mortality is evident due to obesity and is widely recognized as the largest and fastest growing medical and public health problems in the developed and developing world. Prevalence of this disorder in adults has more than tripled in the past decade, and it currently affects approximately 30-35% of the general population in the USA and 25% in the UK. The relation between obesity and disease risk begins early in life and the survey indicates that individuals suffering from obesity and disturbed lipid profile are also associated with high blood pressure and fatty deposits in coronary arteries. Major comorbidities thus include type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, myocardial infarction, stroke, certain cancers, sleep apnea and osteoarthritis. These observations are likely to reflect national trends and certainly deserve a sharper focus for timely treatment of such individuals to prevent further weight gain or reduce weight and manage lipid profile.
Although prevention through education and changes to the obesogenic environment are long-term goals, treatment is required for those who are already obese for their weight as well as lipid profile management. Surprisingly, however, treatment options remain quite limited. Lifestyle changes in the form of dieting and/or exercise per se do not generally produce marked or sustainable management of weight and lipid profile. This is how the use of medicines comes into picture in the form of synthetic drugs for weight management and as well as lipid profile management. Currently available options for lipid management are statins, which reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglycerides and slightly increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. However long term administration of these drugs result in renal toxicity, hepatotoxicity as well as myalgia, thus resulting in hampered patient compliance due to these side effects. Further treatments for weight management are amphetamine derivatives, orlistat, sibutramine, rimonabant and other combination agents, which exhibit side effects related to cardiovascular risk, pulmonary hypertension and abuse potential, thus limiting their use for long term. Hence there is a need for alternate better options, such as agents of natural origin for managing healthy lipid profile as well as taking care of appetite and maintaining body weight. Salacia is a large woody climber grown in the rain forests of Western India and Sri Lanka. Salacia reticulata and Salacia oblonga are two major species of the plant that are known for health benefits, although other species such as Salacia fimbrisepala, Salacia mamba, Salacia miegei, Salacia petenensis, Salacia chinensis exist. Till date Salacia is evaluated and known for its use for treating various conditions such as diabetes, metabolic disorders, constipation, skin ailments, bacterial infections, bile acid regulation and as a nutritional supplement. In general, Salacia extracts are obtained by employing aqueous, organic or combination solvent systems from the roots and aerial parts and are specifically useful in the management of diabetes. Several patents and research publications relate to this extraction and evaluation of health applications of Salacia. Patents and patent applications such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,241,677, 8,337,911, EP2054070, EP 2397039, US20120100248, US20020004190, WO2008136013 describe use of Salacia extract for treatment of diabetes by mechanism of alpha-glucosidase enzyme inhibition.
Patent literature WO 200172316, WO 2008142702, WO 2012024270, U.S. Pat. No. 7,553,502, US20140186466, US20110236488, US20090263505, US20080102144 relate to use of Salacia extract in combination with other plant extracts for treatment of diabetes and other metabolic disorders as a result of synergistic effect.
Several non-patent literature references also describe use of Salacia for treating several health ailments. Mangiferin, one of the main components in Salacia species (Li et al. (Life Sciences 75:1735-1746, 2004), has been reported to be potent α-glucosidase inhibitors that have been shown to inhibit increases in serum glucose levels (Yoshikawa et al. Yakugaku Zasshi 123: 871-880, 2003). Aqueous extract of S. reticulata stems administered to normal mice resulted in reduced obesity, thus potentially could reduce the risk of associated diseases including type II diabetes (Im et al. 2008). However, these references do not teach effect of Salacia non-aqueous extract on food intake or appetite in the management of obesity.
Orally administered aqueous extract of S. reticulata prepared from the root bark to streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats exhibited blood glucose lowering effects of S. reticulata (Serasinghe et al. Phytotherapy Research 4: 205-2061990). The traditional anti-diabetic property of this natural medicine is attributable to intestinal α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (Yoshikawa et al. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chem 10: 1547-1554, 2002). Yoshikawa et al. J Nutr. 132:1819-1824, 2002), observed that an aqueous extract of S. reticulata roots could suppress body weight gain in female Zucker rats. All these references relate to aqueous extract of Salacia and none of these references relate to effect of such extract on appetite or on inhibition of HMG-CoA Reductase.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,114,445 relates to a dietary supplement containing an extract product of Salacia, an extract product of Lagerstroemea speciosa, an extract product of French maritime pine bark, an extract product of Pterocarpus marsupium, and an extract product of Syzygium cumini, said composition being administered in an amount effective to promote wellness and weight loss in the subject.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,420,131 relates to a pharmaceutical composition for treating obesity in a patient consisting essentially of effective amounts of: (1) Rhodiola rosea extract, (2) banaba leaf extract, and (3) an extract selected from the group consisting of: Gardenia fructus extract, apple extract, Salacia reticulata extract and mixtures thereof. The reference discloses synergistic effect of composition having various plants along with Salacia. 
US20100247501 relates to a foodstuff comprising an extract of a plant of genus Salacia and a flavonoid which carries out suppression of obesity, after meal blood sugar level increase and fat. US Patent application 20120276081 provides a body weight gain suppressing composition including a composition of α-glucosidase activity inhibitor and a lipid synthesis inhibitor components. The α-glucosidase activity inhibitor is derived from at least one plant selected from Salacia genus plants, touchi and mulberry, and the lipid synthesis inhibitor component is selected from soybean peptide, marine animal peptide, and sesame lignin. These patent references focus on use of Salacia as an inhibitor of α-glucosidase which is combined with other plant components such as flavonoid and soybean which control body weight gain by inhibiting alpha glucosidase and lipid synthetase. However there are no studies on the effect of Salacia alone on appetite or HMG-CoA Reductase inhibition.
US20080241292 relates to a nutritional composition for promoting weight loss by jointly and simultaneously suppressing appetite, increasing satiation, decreasing the metabolic breakdown of carbohydrates and decreasing the absorption of carbohydrates in an individual comprising, effective amounts of an extract of Mulberry leaf, pinolenic acid and an extract of Salacia oblonga is provided.
US20080220098 relates to the combination of α-amylase inhibitors prepared from Phaseolus vulgaris with α-glucosidase inhibitors obtained from Salacia oblonga and other species. The α-amylase inhibitor is accompanied by a quantity of lectins that reduces the amount of glucose originating from the starches present in the diet, and considerably reduces the appetite after repeated administration. The combination with α-glucosidase inhibitors, such as extracts of Salacia or the thiosugars present in it, further reduce the blood glucose, acting synergistically, and consequently reduce the synthesis of fats from carbohydrates.
US20070037870 relates to aqueous extract prepared from Salacia which contain reticulanol and is effective in controlling blood sugar levels and as a result of this preventing obesity in diabetic patients.
WO2013016742 relates to a composition for treating obesity which includes a mood enhancer, an insulin sparing agent, and a peripheral energy blocker, wherein the mood enhancer contains inositol, rhodiola rosea, magnesium and zinc; the insulin sparing agent includes berberine, banaba leaf and inositol and the peripheral energy blocker contains a combination of a lipase and a glucosidase inhibitor such as salacia. The combination is evaluated for BMI reduction and weight loss for obesity claim.